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State of TN | Rural Task Force

In January of 2018, Athens Main Street organized their local THRIVE Committee. The four-person committee included the Athens Main Street Executive Director and community members who completed a ten-month design thinking course. The committee participated in the Thriving Communities accelerator program designed to enhance leadership and community development through creative placemaking.

Cyclists in Southeast Tennessee now have a new and growing network of bike routes to explore: Bikeways of the Scenic South. This network of carefully crafted road cycling routes is available at ScenicBikeways.com, and the routes include downloadable maps, turn-by-turn cue sheets, notable points of interest, conveniences, and descriptive narratives of what to expect along the routes.

Our colleagues at the Chattanooga Design Studio (CDS) and The Enterprise Center are seeking an artist for a summer fellowship to help implement some of the vision outlined in the recent Public Realm Action Plan.

Talented artist Esther Hart live-illustrated these colorful murals as our Thriving Communities teams from Bridgeport, Dayton, and LaFayette journeyed through their Strategy to Reality session, evolving their “distinctive plays” (strategies based on what sets them apart) for future pop-up events and strategy implementation.

Just east of Chatsworth, Georgia, the Cohutta Mountains form what is essentially the westernmost edge of the Blue Ridge mountain range. One of the area’s more popular outdoor destinations is Fort Mountain State Park, which features a variety of recreation opportunities and cultural interest.

Chattanooga Times Free Press

When the bridge collapsed on I-75, Thrive Regional Partnership released a statement about the bigger issue of needing to improve infrastructure in the region and across the country. The nonprofit is focused on promoting responsible growth for the next 40 years through the tristate Chattanooga region, which includes working with 16 counties in three different states and the three different metropolitan planning organizations.

Georgia Tourism, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), announced that it has awarded more than $64,000 in tourism product development grants to 14 new and expanding projects across the state, including one in the Thriving Community of Fort Oglethorpe!

According to an analysis published by the Economic Policy Institute, the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry is the second highest in job creation for every $1,000,000 invested. The ripple effect shows how even the intangible enjoyment of arts and culture bolsters the balance of our economy.

Lookout Mountain’s thousand-foot deep gorge known as Cloudland Canyon is one of northwest Georgia’s better known attractions. Perhaps you’ve gazed at the spectacular view of the canyon from one of the overlooks on the rim, then hiked down to see the two waterfalls, traversing the infamous 600-step staircase in the process. While these may be its best known features, there is much more to see and do at Cloudland Canyon State Park!

Chattanooga Times Free Press

"We have to get some of our companies willing to test it and be a testing platform," Massengill said about alternative work setups. "The more that we can be informed around the challenges, the stronger we can be in addressing them holistically in our companies — both small and large."

Chattanooga Times Free Press

Forty-four percent of those employed in Hamilton County commute from outside of the county, 120,000 vehicles were estimated to travel through downtown Chattanooga each day on Interstate 24 in 2016 and 33 million tons of freight is expected to travel through the Chattanooga area per year by 2035 — up from 25 million tons, according to data provided by Thrive Regional Partnership. Estimates show that by 2040, nearly 1.4 million people will call the greater Chattanooga area home.

One of the best spots for birding in the Chattanooga region is Jackson County, Alabama’s Stevenson City Park. About 45 miles southwest of downtown Chattanooga, the park is located on a peninsula in Crow Creek, and is part of the 3,346-acre Crow Creek Refuge. Stevenson City Park is a stop on the North Alabama Birding Trail and largely consists of a mixture of trees and grassy areas, along with easily accessible shoreline.

Chattanooga State Community College has become the 61st educational institution in the nation and the first campus in Tennessee to be certified as an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program, designed to marshal the strengths of educational campuses for the benefit of pollinators. Chattanooga State joins more than a hundred other cities and campuses across the country united in improving their landscapes for pollinators.

At the outset of 2019, Thrive Regional Partnership welcomed seven new trustees to its board that reflect growing representation and leadership across the tri-state, 16-county greater Chattanooga region.